Friday, December 21, 2012

Monday, December 17, 2012

When did it become some sort of holy writ that
"Guns are why we're free"? The rule of law and due process are why
we're free. Civilians toting around automatic weapons is no cause of
freedom. On the contrary.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

President Obama was criticized yesterday for saying that at the
time the national conversation should be about the victims, not
politics. He was right. I’m not certain why the laws of basic human
decency seem to be suspended over the Internet but let’s pretend that
your world has just been destroyed. Because no one needs to actually
lose one of their children to know what the impact must feel like. Would
you want someone to turn your child’s funeral into a bully pulpit for
their cause? Instead of remembering your loved one, and letting you deal
with your grief, would you want them standing over that tiny little
casket screaming “See what guns and video games do???” Don’t be a
hypocrite. If it sickens you to see Ann Coulter on Hannity talking about
the Second Amendment three hours after 20 children and 6 adults were
murdered, then it should equally sicken you to see someone you respect
on TV talking about gun control while footage of crying kids air.
President Obama was just asking that for now, we as a nation let the
families grieve, but it’s hard to stop the Internet machine and even
he's now talking so I guess I’ll hop on.

In the last 24 hours
since the tragedy in Newton, a flurry of suggestions has hit the social
media world regarding how to handle it. Ban all guns like they do in
Australia, eliminate First Person Shooter games, post armed sentries
outside of oh, pretty much every public place now. Regardless of the
personal opinions, everyone is essentially saying the same thing: We’re
sick of this. Do something.

First off, let’s start with the
obvious: gun control. No, I am in no way saying that guns cause mass
shootings. But even the stupidest person can see that they can’t take
place without them. It’s much easier to kill 30 people with an automatic
handgun or assault rifle than it is to build a homemade bomb and
transport it or wield a knife in a crowd. I’m not jumping on the ban all
guns mass hysteria bandwagon, but can’t we at least make it a tad bit
harder for the psychos to get weapons that can kill a bunch of people?
Should people really be able to buy thousands of rounds of ammo on the
Internet? Or an assault rifle at a gun show? We’re so fucking entitled
as a society that we think our “rights” should always come easily and
without consequences. Stop throwing the Second Amendment around for
God’s sake. It was written in a time when people lived by themselves in
log cabins, in fear of Indians and redcoats and bears. It took a full
minute to load your musket with pellets and gunpowder, and after all
that effort you got one shot or something then had to do that shit all
over again. The Founding Fathers couldn’t have even conceptualized of
assault rifles, extended ammo clips, hundreds of rounds being fired off
in seconds. Do you really think George Washington and Thomas Jefferson
were sitting around saying “Make sure you write that amendment as
generally as possible because we need to make sure that hundreds of
years from now, citizens can collect guns, fire off SAWs in their
backyards, play Chuck Norris at the grocery, and go hunting for sport
not survival.” I wasn't there but I can tell you they weren't.

Incidentally,
hunting is stupid. It’s a human with an enormous advantage in the gun
he or she is holding, versus an animal that can’t shoot back. You want
to impress me, go kill a grizzly bear with a slingshot.

Also,
unless you are regularly attacked by teams of trained
counter-intelligence soldiers turned mercenaries, all you really need to
protect your home against intruders is a revolver.

All that
being said, our gun laws make the problem worse but they are not what
cause the actual problem. Plenty of countries enable its citizens to own
guns. In Iraq, every household can legally own an AK. But those
countries' citizens are not shooting down innocent people to the
frequency and extent that American citizens are. We have a problem in
this country in how we deal with the mentally ill. Better minds than
mine need to figure out how to address this but we can’t go on
pretending it’s not an issue. Every single time there is a story like
this in the media there are always people who knew there was something
off about that person, a history of mental illness, warning signs,
something. I don’t have any answers here but I do know that the mentally
ill community is an underserved one. As an example, OCD affects one in
every four children but as a cause receives very little funding, from
the government and privately. We need to change that. In addition,
parents, pay attention to your kids. I'm not blaming the parents of
these monsters since I don’t know anything about them and how they were
raised. I do know however, that as parents we are more attuned to what’s
going on with them and we have more influence over them than anyone
else in their lives starting from the cradle. I don’t consider it just
my responsibility to feed, clothe, and shelter my kids into adulthood. I
consider it my responsibility to make sure they grow up to be
compassionate, conscientious, engaged, and well-rounded adults who
contribute positively to society.

Lastly, you know how they
don’t name rape victims or minors who are victims in the media? Let’s
start doing that with people who commit sensational crimes like this
one. You don’t need to know his name or what he looked like. Let’s stop
glorifying them and giving young, unstable, psychotic people a way to
make themselves immortal.

There’s something wrong, guys. We're
broken. I for one am more than willing to try someone else’s idea out
even if I don’t agree with it. Our debate over these issues is breeding
inaction. We need to start making changes now. The true definition of
idiocy is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Dear New York Times, no editorials at all? Just reporting the news? What a concept! I
think commentary is important. But in my opinion, the Times, and so many other
news outlets (FOX NEWS) over rely on commentary and have starved hard
reporting because it's not as glamorous or remunerative. But what
happens is that a lot of blowhards get unwarranted exposure. These
people are always insiders and NEVER understand what's going on outside
the bubble, whether on the right or the left.

Monday, December 10, 2012

When I read such things, I think, Go, America
(and you too China), pirate and steal as many of their
products as you want. Ultimately, we're all getting screwed. You too,
shareholders, dumb and complacent as you are.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Between this and The Hobbit, I'm not sure my little nerd heart can take much more. And if
Benedict Cumberbatch wants to maintain this streak of playing
multi-varied permutations of "indomitable badass" I will not be unhappy.